Use the disused:lifecycle prefix on tags that relate to features that are in a reasonable state of repair but which are currently unused. Examples include vacant or boarded-up dusty shop buildings or unused parking lots.

For features which can only be returned to use with significant repair efforts, use the prefix abandoned: instead. Use of disused as a simple tag is now discouraged (for example disused=yes).

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How to tag

Add the namespacedisused: as a prefix to all keys which are no longer relevant to the current state of an object. You should treat all the tags on an object as a set of facts about the object, and prefix the keys of those facts which are no longer true as a result of the disuse. For example, a concrete parking area which is no longer used for parking cars but which still carries a name sign might be tagged as

which makes it unavailable to programs which find parking, and unlikely to be displayed as parking in any default renderings. The name is still relevant, and will still be searchable. If the area is opened up again, it's a simple matter to undo the prefixing.

Former use (as a simple tag)

Using this namespace as a simple tag is now strongly discouraged. Use it as a lifecycle prefix instead.

Using disused=yes' as a simple tag is deprecated, but there are many uses of it in the database still. It was used for the same purpose as described above, but the syntax was unhelpful because automated consumers of the data would have had to be rewritten. This, in practice, does not happen. The former notes still apply:

Some disused features will be tagged in the database as disused=yes. The addition of this tag implies lots of things about the general level of human activity present in and around the object, but by itself isn't sufficient to describe the object's status consistently. To make the tags internally consistent:

You must also make any tags which no longer have current meaning as a result of the disuse unavailable to software which doesn't know about the disused=yes tag. This can be done by prefixing their keys with the namespace disused: — see the examples above.